YOUR HEALTH: Preventing pitching injuries; rewriting the high school rulebook

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - It’s springtime and that means one thing—it’s the start of baseball season. Almost half a million kids take to the playing field in high school. But did you know that almost 50 percent of all pitchers get injured at some point? They’re hardest hit with shoulder and elbow injuries. But now, some doctors are calling for a re-write of the rule book, in hopes of keeping more student athletes’ injury-free.

Before they can get here …

They start here. By age 14, pitches can reach 80 miles per hour! But it can take its toll on growing arms and elbows.

“These overuse injuries, particularly at our adolescent level, are continuing to grow.” says Jason Zaremski, MD, Sports Medicine Specialist at the University of Florida.

Doctor Zaremski is the director of the University of Florida Health Throwing clinic. He’s seen an uptick in torn UCL’s.

Doctor Zaremski says, “We call it a Little League elbow. The fancy term is called apophysis or inflammation at the growth plate in the elbow.”

In a paper published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, Doctor Zaremski calls for stricter guidelines—starting with enforced pitch counts.

“These guidelines that are out there are primarily at the high school level, but when you go play in travel ball leagues and summer leagues, those regulations don’t necessarily have to be followed.” explains Doctor Zaremski.

Players 14 and younger who throw 25 or more pitches should not pitch the following day.

Doctor Zaremski says, “If you include warmup and your bullpen and throwing between innings, you’re actually throwing about 40% more pitches.”

No pitching off the mound in practice on consecutive days. And teens should stop using weighted baseballs in practice.

“You’re throwing more and throwing harder. At some point your elbow’s going to break down.” says Doctor Zaremski.

And although these injuries are not life-threatening … they can sideline players for a year.

Doctor Zaremski is also suggesting that schools formalize a four-week ramp-up period before the baseball season begins to allow players’ arms to strengthen. By the way, the proposed guidelines do not pertain to softball players as their pitch is different and doesn’t cause the same type of stress to the player’s arms. Another sport where players are at risk—throwing the javelin. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto started hurling a javelin to warm up his whole body before the baseball game. He says the mechanics of tossing a javelin helps him pitch with his full body, protecting the health of his elbow.

Click here to report a typo.